Passage process

The Supreme Court approved agreements the Public Prosecutor made with two key witnesses in the so-called Passage process - a large lawsuit revolving around a total of seven assassinations committed between 1993 and 2006, NU.nl reports.

The fact that the court decided to convict based on statements from key witnesses in a massive Amsterdam gang-assassinations trial last month, will lead to more assassinations, lawyers Christian Flokstra and Nico Meijering said to NRC.

The court in Amsterdam sentenced four suspects to life in prison in the appeal of the so-called Passage process, which revolves around a number of Amsterdam underworld assassinations. Dino Soerel, Jesse R., Mohammed R. and Siegfried S. will all spend the rest of their lives in prison, the court ruled, NOS reports.

When this case was first tried in 2013, Soerel was sentenced to only six months in prison for money laundering, he was acquitted for his role in the assassinations. The other three already had life sentences hanging over their heads.

Update:The Public Prosecutor demanded life in prison against four suspects in the appeal of the massive Amsterdam gangland murders trial known as the Passage-process in court on Tuesday. The trial started in 2007 and is still going. It revolves around seven assassinations - mostly in the Amsterdam underworld - and 10 suspects. The 11th suspect Ali Akgun was assassinated in 2014, NOS reports.

Dutch criminal Sjaak Burger (44), who was shot in the head in Panama in January, is back in the Netherlands. He recently moved in to a Dutch hospital's nursing ward, De Telegraaf reports. He is still badly injured and the prognosis for his potential recovery is unknown.

Fred Ross, the key witness in the execution process Passage, was involved in the murder of Heineken kidnapper Cor van Hout. This is according to TV program Brandpunt Reporter based on pieces from the police file that have not previously been made public, NOS reports.

The Turkish police have arrested 6 suspects in connection with the assassination of the Dutch-Turkish Ali Akgun, CNN Turkey reports According to CNN, a weapon was also confiscated during raids. It is not yet clear whether this is the murder weapon.

Istanbul was shocked by another execution on Wednesday. The victim is Vedat Sahin, the brother of top criminal Sedat Sahin - a well known name in the Turkish underworld. Sahin was from Rotterdam and was allegedly good friends with Ali Akgun, who was executed earlier on Wednesday.